Abstract
Software for airborne application is highly safety critical as any failures may result in loss of human life. Government agencies like FAA and JAA in the US and Europe respectively, enforce stringent software development practices to ensure the safety of life. RTCA DO-178B provides the guidelines for all the phases of the software development life cycle for airborne applications and equipment certifica-tion. The aviation community as a whole and the FAA endorse these guidelines.

The safety criticality of airborne software poses a lot of challenges for its V&V because the airborne system as a whole should not fail and result in damage or threat to human life. This paper aims at explaining these in more setail from a practitioner’s perspective. The first few sections define the activities involved in the verification of safety critical software and describe the processes recommended by DO178B. In last couple of sections, a small case study is presented. It is concluded with a brief description of Wipro Technologies’ focus in this area.

Author Sreekumar Panicker

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